Transferring liquid manure from a manure pond to a tank of a liquid manure spreader involves pumping the liquid manure from the pond through a filling pipe into the tank of the spreader. Because the tank is loaded from the top, the filling pipe is generally mounted on a wheeled A-frame with the pipe inclined from a lower inlet end to an elevated outlet end. The lower inlet end is equipped with a fluid connection structure for connecting the inlet end to an outlet of a liquid manure pump located in the pond. The A-frame is generally equipped with a scissor linkage that can be manually adjusted to raise and lower the elevated outlet end of the pipe. The wheels on the A-frame allow the filling pipe to be moved manually on the ground to properly position the filling pipe between the pond and the manure spreader.
Modern liquid manure pumps are able to move large volumes of liquid manure quickly, requiring larger diameter filling pipes to accommodate the increased volumes. The larger diameter filling pipes are heavier and cannot be moved readily by hand. These heavier filling pipes are towed behind a vehicle between farms, but at a farm the heavier filling pipes are difficult to position properly into the exact desired location at the farm.
There is a need in the art for being able to more easily position and operate heavy filling pipes.